Mental Health Diction
Mary Pervaiz
Corporate and Wellness Trainer | Counselling Psychologist | Project Manager | DEI Advocate | Career Mentor | Professional Public Speaker
Mental, retarded, psycho, and mad are just some of the terms that were changed in decent diction used for mental health in the past century or more.
I came across an interesting concept which explained that it has nothing to do with the word but the meaning attached to it by an individual or the community in general. It could be to express humour, disgust, anger, and even to insult and instigate someone, it's very petty if you pay some attention but it is the reality of our lack of empathy as well as awareness.
It is definitely not as humiliating if I call you diabetic but if for example, I say "you're bipolar" (mood disorder) it is immediately offensive, we feel accused, targeted and whatnot.
So it's wise to ask yourself, when can you joke about mental health? What is the boundary between being insensitive and realistic? Is mental health labelling used for sympathies?
These are important questions as we're abruptly moving towards a society which is gaining information globally from diverse societies (not culturally comparable to ours) and we do not have any protocols for our own communities.
I want to keep this piece of writing as food for thought and something that you can discuss with your peers as well.
In peace,
Mary Pervaiz